“Ohhhhhhh! You’re Jack’s mom!”

I don’t know what it is about that phrase that strikes such dread in me. Maybe it’s the intonation, maybe it’s the source – this time, the secretary at Jack’s middle school. What’s she going to say next?

It was good this time – she said he was such a sweet boy, which we hear a lot. He is a sweet boy and his natural confidence makes an impression on a lot of people. And then she remarked that it was amazing that he takes the public bus regularly (it goes right from his school to our house) and figured that if he could swing that as a 6th grader, he’s set for life.

There are no progress reports in parenting, so I treasure these little tidbits from other sources – she sees a lot of kids go through her office. She didn’t wag her finger because he doesn’t turn in his homework, she praised him for being out there with at least a toe in the grown-up world at age 11. Excellent.